ChI and I drove the ford out to the country yesterday afternoon and had a little picnic on the flat warm hood.. Basking in the sun while the cold wind whipped over our jackets. She offered to give me a haircut when we got back - my hair has been getting out of control lately, frisking up into spiky blond locks. I used to keep it fairly short and well trimmed when we first met and I had a more respectable job rather than working nights at a bar.

We spent another hour after lunch in the back seat of the ford [scandal!] before driving home satisfied. When we arrived back at my apartment ChI cut my hair into a more respectable and (dare I say) punk haircut. I was happy, though ChI seemed to think she'd done an awful job on my head and giggled for the rest of the afternoon about my hair. No one else seemed to think it was that fucked up - even critical Steve said I looked 'jovial'. That sounds a little too much like Santa.

When I went into work they were overhauling the bar - refinishing the varnish on one side of the oblong shaped wooden monstrosity. This meant that my work was going to be cut out for me. People crowded one side of the bar all night, shouting orders and flicking cigarette ash on my arms as I cleaned the empties out from in front of them. Thursdays are big nights for the younger folks but the most entertaining for a voyeuristic bartender like me.

I listened and watched their conversations, placed silent bets with Johnny over who would go home with whom. Nearly half the time I was correct in my guesses. If I was only a fraction of that lucky with the women that I meet I'd be in good shape. My little flirts at the bar are always meaningless (well, okay I did meet Gena at the bar) so I have a little distance and delight in the attention I get from the female patrons.

I didn't get off work until nearly 4am after cleanup. I stayed for a half hour after we were finished to smoke a few cigarettes and shoot some pool with my fellow bartenders before chasing home to bed. I always smell so disgusting when I get home that I sleep in the nude simply out of laziness to take a shower and not wanting to wash my sheets again. Even if you're a smoker if you spend 8-10 hours in a smoky bar you'll smell like the most disgusting ashtray in the world.

Dean